CCNA - low cost solution

Author

low cost solution

no4spam

2003-10-12, 10:44 am

Dear All,

I'm just having a question regarding Regional sites to Main Office Connectivity in a way that is cost effective..

Let's say that i have 10 remote sites that must be connected to the main office? what i want know is:

1- Is there any hardware [Router] that can support the serial connections form all these remote sites..

2- What is the recommended WAN solution just to maintain the 24/7 availability?

Regards..

no4spam

OHCCNP2003

2003-10-12, 3:21 pm

You might be able to use Cisco 3745s with two of them configured with 3 NM-4A/S modules which would give you a total of 12 serial ports per router. You would need to configure the 2 routers for failover. I have never attempted this with serial interfaces. You could e-mail Cisco with your exact requirements to find out the best soulution to your problem.

larkspur

2003-10-12, 10:43 pm

I might look at what kind of data are the remotes sending/receiveing, Email,interent, database queries?

I would maybe look at 1720's at the remote sites and 1 3600 series at the main office.

You would have a T-1 come to the main office and possible 320k or 512k (Frac T-1's)circuits at the Remote sites.

When you start looking at 24/7 availability it can get expensive. maybe on teh remotes have a isdn connection just in case the frame cicuit goes down that way the site will be up, slow but up.

If you git the budget than diffently follow OHCCNP2003 recommendation and e-mail cisco you exact requirement.

Good Luck!!!!

no4spam

2003-10-13, 2:16 am

Thanks OHCCNP2003 & larkspur,

The kind of data that the remotes sites are sending/receiveing are database queries and DB replication..

For 24/7 availability and the backup BRI line, how will it be when for example i have 10 remote sites?

Each remote site will have 1 BRI interface let's say installed on the 1720's router..?!!

what about the Main site?!! 1 BRI interface or 10 BRI interfaces must be installed?!!

What about Frame-Relay solution instead of Leased line? would this save the serial interfaces and some HW?!!

could i e-mail Cisco with my exact requirements to find out the best soulution for me? could you give me the link?

Regards..

larkspur

2003-10-13, 5:33 pm

Not real sure about the BRI possible 10, but I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction.

you can get a frame relay t-1 line. many people think T-1 and leased Line.

OHCCNP2003

2003-10-13, 6:29 pm

Sounds like you aren't entirely sure what type of configuration you are looking at. Your initial question was about capacity and redundancy. The 3745 has the capacity to support your 10 connections, whether you are using serial connections or BRI. Cisco makes 4 and 8 port BRI modules for the 37xx series routers, with or without NT1. You could certainly use a frame relay connection or connections to support all of your sites off of one or multiple interfaces. You could also use a hub and spoke frame relay setup. What type of redundancy are you looking for? A failover solution for the home office, redundant comm links, or both? Since it sounds like you are starting what might be an entirely new WAN - WAN aggregation design, a suggestion would be to define your needs and commit them to paper and perhaps a visio drawing. Check the Cisco web site to find a business partner in your area, like maybe bellsouth or AT&T. They can look at your needs and come up with a proposed solution for you, probably at no charge since they are going to try and sell you both hardware and services. You could also contact SunGard availability services to come in and look at your needs. They provide hotsite services for companies that don't have their own backup facility. Any solution that you look at is probably going to cost quite a bit, both in terms of hardware and implementation/maintenance. Getting several onsite quotes at NC might not be a bad idea.

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